Spiritual Kingdom (for imperially minded, fantasy writers)

I have indulged in illustrated novel writing for the last five years. It is very specifically about a spiritual kingdom of my imagination. I won't disclose the names of kingdoms, characters and novel titles for copyright purposes. As for specific contents, ideas and themes I'm leading with, I won't disclose either for the same reason. However, I've opened this thread to invite like minded writers and share the opportunity to discuss ideas and issues relating to writing a spiritual kingdom.

My indulgence for the last half a decade is also my spiritual journey of imagination and inspiration, every good bit of which is captured and translated into artworks, hand drawings, illustrations, designs and story writing. I have and will constantly imagine myself amongst a spiritual kingdom that exists in the heaven, and whose adventurers and warriors descend onto Earth and other worlds on epic quests.

I've sought for years further inspiration and an opportunity to share with peers my wonderful creations. I have only recently found this forum, and I am quite delighted to engage here.

To start this thread off with...

Authorial Motive/Agenda
Spiritual kingdom as an imaginative concept in story writing is sometimes driven by the author's sense of mission but a failure to implement it in reality. This writing practice can also have the potential to achieve the author's message to the whole human world and enlighten them. It is a bit like religious writing, in which case, I am already conceptualising an imaginary religion as a characteristic of the spiritual kingdom - it can sound like, if I am taking it seriously in publishing and conveying to the world with both imagination/fiction and a humanitarian message, I could be pioneering a new religion in the 21st century world. This 'religion' and the conception of spiritual kingdom in novel writing is all about expressing one's highest values and ideology.

I will update and introduce new subject matters in this thread. In the meantime, anyone's posts are awaited!

MLM, I'm imagining that there are many worlds, including the Earth and one world in the heaven where the spiritual kingdom and its alliance exist. At some point, an interplanetary contact occurs between the kingdom and India. I'm imagining how the religion characteristic of the kingdom is related to Hinduism, Judaism and Islam. In one way, the religion is the ancient precursor to Hinduism and Judasim. Alternatively, the religion is an integration of Hinduism and Islam. That is, it is not Sikhism which is defensive sect of Hinduism from Islam, but a positive unification incorporating some essential principles from both religions.

It is not a fantasy or historical fiction world but it is also combined with science fiction. Space ships exist among the futuristic technologies including ethereality, hyperspace and cybernetics, whilst the archaic architectural styles and cultures continue, including magnificent castles. These castles, instead of featuring old gunpowder and cannons, are designed to reflect the futuristic civilisation. Overall, the civilisation amongst the spiritual kingdom and its alliance is the esoteric civilisation with some major religious forces. There is warfare, which involves archery, lancing, swordplay as well as high tech navy, air force and artillery. My novels are not just about wars and conquest. It is about adventurers as well, who go on epic quests and solve mystical problems affecting small scale locales to galaxies and the universe.

I was born in India, and brought up by a Hindu family. I've had many friends who are Sikhs and once visited Amritsar where the Golden Temple was. I didn't realise that Sikhism is not a domination of Hinduism or Islam and I shall revisit its history and learn more about it regardless of so many interesting conversations at home in which I've eavesdropped for the last few decades.

By the way, here I add something...

Meanwhile, I shall seek advice from the forum administrators about disclosing a few of the themes I'm using in illustrated novel writing - including risk management in revealing my unique, original ideas and the question of someone stealing them - and royalties. Some of the themes are as follows.

'Origins of Humanity'
The spiritual kingdom's race is purely human but with a few other races and has their own esoteric civilisation in the heaven. I intend to explore questions on the origins of humanity - what it means to be human as distinct from being a religious fellow or one having blind faith in God. Other important aspects surrounding this are human dignity, intelligence, and moral judgement and justice. I also explore ontological questions on the diversity of life forms and their unique existences, including animals, plants, Earth matter as well as celestial bodies. More importantly, it is about the questions of their identity as different species, their unique place in the universe and heaven, and the very verity/truth of themselves in nature. In one chapter, I intend to write about how a statue appears alive, ravaging the plaza in its way until it becomes self-aware and gets self-confronted. This chapter unfolds many questions about the co-existence of artworks and artists, and going on a spiritual, intellectual and adventurous mission to stop similar occurrences.

Novels are also about delivering humanitarian justice worldwide by the spiritual kingdom and its alliance - whether it will be during the Armageddon or not. It explores the culture of this spiritual kingdom, one of whose laws is Always Speak the Truth - in the eyes of its law, anyone who lies will be asked to stay home for a specified period of time, or at worst may be exiled and resettle in ordinary worlds. I would like to write where there is the truth of humankind - that all animals had 'devolved' from humankind due to some spiritual or other reasons, and that humankind is at the heart of the spectrum of all different species and life forms - and that the spiritual kingdom is the holiest, truest human kingdom to look to.

The Art of War
The Art of War in my novels is a key part of the spiritual kingdom - the pledge to ensure zero casualty and injury whilst practising a wide range of forms - swordplay, artillery, archery, navy, air force, lancing and wizardry. Fundamental questions include how its warriors and adventurers will defeat the enemies without causing them injury or casualty.

According to the Qur'an, Adam, Noah, Moses, Jesus, and other ancient guys were upright Muslims, so logically the religions that descended from these guys' work are descended from Islam, like Judaism and Xtianity.

I am not fully versed in Hinduism or Judaism but it is a nice idea to consider a religion that is the precursor to these.

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...no...it's not...
The whole point of Judaism is that there is only one God. The Torah is basically God leading the Jews around a sea of infidels who worship many gods, and guarantying good things for the Jews because they are monotheists.

You may recognize that as exactly the opposite of Hinduism at its very core.

Similarly with Hinduism and Islam, though in the case of Islam is that "There is but one God and Muhammad is his prophet." You may have noticed that there is something of a feud between the monotheistic Islam and polytheistic Hinduism, in the same way that the surface of the sun is sort of hot.

PheonixA Singer of Space Operas and The Fourth Mod of RPStaffContributor

Where are the comments on concepts such as the Origins of Humanity and the Art of War?

Maybe it is safe to conceptualise a religion that has no connection to the world's religions.

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Well, those two concepts, "Origins of humanity" and "Art of war" are your own. Cool ideas inside your fiction, but there isn't really a whole lot for us to comment on.

As far as the religious element though...

Islam (and Christianity) trace their roots back to Judaism. The three religions all hold that there is one almighty God. Hinduism is an amalgam of philosophies from ancient india that formed into what is now known as contemporary hinduism. Depending on their beliefs, Hindus can believe in one god, several, or thousands. The doctrine is somewhat open to interpretation it seems.

Parts of all of these religions seem to have been influenced by early Zoroastrianism, which originated in Iran around 500-600 BCE. This is dependent on which you believe came first however.

At any rate, it would seem that if you want to write about actual religions, and their beliefs or origins--even if your are fictionalizing them--you kinda need to do your homework. Otherwise you could quickly lose credibility with readers who are actual practicing members of the religions that you are talking about. Does that make sense?

Belief is something that, if not handled delicately, at least deserves to be handled accurately.

And doing some research is not even that hard, a few google searches or a few books from the library and you would be good to go.

...no...it's not...
The whole point of Judaism is that there is only one God. The Torah is basically God leading the Jews around a sea of infidels who worship many gods, and guarantying good things for the Jews because they are monotheists.

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That's debatable. Genesis 1:26 suggests that there are multiple beings present during the creation of the universe and that they all participated in the shaping of humanity. I also remember other parts of the Torah/OT sounding as if the foreign gods were real, but that they were forbidden to the Israelites because of their covenant with God. In other words, there is only one god... for the Jews.

As an aside, Genesis 3:8, Exodus 33:11, and the story of Jacob's wrestling match show clearly that God is a physical being who does normal stuff like go for walks. This physicality is common in polytheistic religions, where there are many individuals who manage the world collectively, but not for later monotheistic depictions of God as a bodiless, all-permeating entity.

You may recognize that as exactly the opposite of Hinduism at its very core.

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Hinduism could be seen as monotheistic. As I recall, Hindus believe that the entire universe sprang from a single, sublime force. The Hindu gods are simply more powerful manifestations of this force. Sorry, it's been a couple of years since I took Indian Philosophy (and we spent more time discussing causality than gods!).

Hinduism could be seen as monotheistic. As I recall, Hindus believe that the entire universe sprang from a single, sublime force. The Hindu gods are simply more powerful manifestations of this force. Sorry, it's been a couple of years since I took Indian Philosophy (and we spent more time discussing causality than gods!).

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See that's what I thought, and then I met some Hindu's and got to talking about it. They were offended that I thought they could be monotheists, and told me that was just western culture trying to define their beliefs.

Mind you I was just speaking with laymen, not Hindu religious scholars or authorities. But they definitely didn't think of themselves as believing in one god.

See that's what I thought, and then I met some Hindu's and got to talking about it. They were offended that I thought they could be monotheists, and told me that was just western culture trying to define their beliefs.

Mind you I was just speaking with laymen, not Hindu religious scholars or authorities. But they definitely didn't think of themselves as believing in one god.

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Very interesting! Yeah, I was wrong to suggest that this monotheist interpretation was the sole one, although it was my understanding that this belief in an ultimate source of reality was universal in Hindu thought. I could be wrong - or you could have talked to the Hindu equivalent of Catholics who get offended when you think that they pray to saints rather than through them or whatever.